United Academics AAUP/AFT

United Academics Reports

UA Announcement of New Part-Time Faculty Contract (July 7, 2009) United Academics (AAUP/AFT), the union representing 160 part-time faculty at the University of Vermont, reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract with the University on July 2nd. Negotiations, which began in January of this year, were particularly challenging given these difficult economic times. Click here for UA's full announcement of this exciting development.

Declaration of Impasse for Part-Time Faculty Contract (May 29, 2009) After five months of negotiations, the University administration and United Academics have failed to reach agreement on a second, part-time faculty contract. The parties mutually agreed to declare impasse yesterday and expect to begin mediation in June. Approximately 160 faculty members belong to the part-time unit of United Academics. Click here to read the full press release.

2009 Salary Adjustment Figures Report (May 21, 2009) The contract allocates 5% percent of the salary pool to raises this year: 3% percent to across-the-board (which everyone gets), 1% percent to performance (allocated by Deans in consultation with Chairs), and 1% percent to market/compression. United Academic's salary committee allocates market/compression funds, with the approval of UA's Executive Council. We have completed this year's market adjustment analysis and forwarded numbers to the administration. Most faculty will receive some market adjustment this next year. We wanted you to know about the process and its outcomes. Click here to read our report on this year's salary adjustment. Or click here for our Salary Adjustment FAQ, which will give answers to more general questions about the process at UVM.

UA and Students Stand Up! Joint Press Conference (May 12, 2009) United Academics and Students Stand Up! held a Joint Press Conference expressing our serious concerns over the administration's budget cutting measures, and stressing that the budget doesn't need to be balanced on the backs of students, staff, and faculty. Click here to read the press release for the event.

Contract Administration Committee (CAC) Spring 2009 Report (May 6, 2009) The Contract Administration Committee have been even busier than usual this past spring, discussing an issue or answer a faculty inquiry on almost a daily basis. Since the Fall of 2007, there have been more than of 6,500 e-mails to the Committee! Click here to read the latest update from the CAC.

UA Executive Council Statements on Student and Faculty Protests and Sit-In (April 5 & 23, 2009) United Academics' Executive Council issued statements to the UVM Administration on the Students Stand Up! Student Walk-Out and subsequent Sit-In of Waterman Building.

UA Report on Its Actions During the Budget Crisis (April 20, 2009) During the past academic year, UVM and the university community has been rocked by a series of actions relating to the budget. UA took the strongest possible position in support of academic quality during this challenging time. Here are just a few things UA did to support our members, commuunity, and students. Click here to read a more detailed summary of UA's actions in this trying time.

UA and Partners Hold Budget Protest (April 6, 2009) UA joined with Students Stand Up!, United Electrical Workers Local 267, and United Staff to throw a "Let Them Eat Gruel" Budget-Cut Protest Oatmeal Breakfast. Click here for the event Announcement, Flyer, or Press Release.

UA Report on Executive Bonuses (February 25, 2009) The administration at the University of Vermont, whose financial management contributed to a budget deficit of more than $11 million, appears to have paid itself nearly $900,000 in executive bonuses and additional compensation beyond their published base salaries between 2006 and 2009. Click here to read the full report.

UA Executive Council Letter to UVM Board of Trustees (January 29, 2009) UA's Executive Council (EC) sent a formal letter to the entire Board of Trustees articulating UA's concerns about the budget crisis and the administration's response to it. UA's letter calls for the administration and the Board to consider alternative approaches that are now being explored at other universities. Click here to read this letter.

UA Statement Regarding UVM's Budget Problems (Dec. 1, 2008)
Along with the entire UVM community, United Academics AFT/AAUP--the union representing most faculty at the University of Vermont--is concerned about the recently announced $22 million budget shortfall. We are committed to working with the administration and the rest of the University to develop and implement institutionally responsible solutions that maintain UVM's commitment to its core missions: quality teaching, research, and service. Towards that end, United Academics articulates the following guiding principles and commitments. (To download this statement (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

A Week in the Life of a UVM Faculty Member 2008 -- Something's Got to Give (April-May 2008)
Faced with a 30-percent jump in undergraduate enrollments, new initiatives intensifying the need for individualized student attention, plus new programs spreading long-term faculty very thin across the campus and curriculum, UVM's full-time faculty -- whose numbers have not kept pace with the university's rapid growth -- continue to provide students with the premier small research university experience promised on admission tours. But for how long? And at what cost?
(To download this report (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

Vermont Legislature Investigates UVM's Unequal Treatment of Part-Time Faculty Teaching Courses Through Continuing Education (February-March 2008)
This bill would require Vermont's universities and colleges including UVM to pay part-time faculty pro-rata salaries (that is pro-rated to full-time faculty from comparable schools), and provide pro-rated medical and retirement benefits regardless of whether the courses taught were offered through Continuing Education or the faculty member's home department. United Academics member Beth Haggart testified to the Vermont Senate about the need for this legislation. Click here to read Beth's report of her experience. Following Beth's testimony, Chairman Illuzi sent a strongly-worded letter to UVM President Daniel Fogel. Click here to read page 1 and page 2 of Senator Illuzi's letter explaining that from the Senate's perspective, UVM's treatment of part-time faculty "raises questions." (Bet's letter is an Adobe PDF file.)

University Administration Declines $225,000 to Increase Nurse Faculty Salaries (April 2008)
Last month, when two Vermont state legislative committees were prepared to set aside nearly half a million dollars to increase base salaries for nursing faculty at the University of Vermont, President Daniel Mark Fogel stepped in to say no. Why did university administrators block state funding that would have helped UVM's College of Nursing and Health Services recruit and retain faculty? Read the report from United Academics member Judith Cohen, professor of nursing.
(To download this report (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

UVM Faculty Resources in Service to the Vermont State Legislature (2007-2008)
United Academics (AAUP/AFT) recognizes that the University of Vermont faculty can be a valuable resource for Vermont state legislators. We have compiled this guide as a means of making available contact information for faculty whose areas of expertise are relevant to the many legislative committees.
(To download this guide (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

Frequently Asked Questions about the Crisis in the College of Education & Social Services at the University of Vermont (Spring 2006)
"Despite their importance to the quality of public education throughout the state of Vermont, teacher training programs offered by the Department of Education in CESS are being threatened by UVM's administration which plans, over a two-year period, to cut 76 course sections by letting go of essential faculty members who teach courses in curriculum and methods, supervise student interns, and provide professional support for educators throughout Vermont's public schools."
(To download the FAQ (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

UA Agency Fee Objections Procedure (November 2005)
"The Agency Fee is calculated every two years on the basis of the fraction of United Academics's expenses in the previous two fiscal years that are chargeable to collective bargaining activities....Although these biennial calculations are verified by an independent certified public accountant, Agency Fee payers have the right to challenge the calculation."
(To read the procedure click here.)

Fact Sheet on Part-Time UVM Faculty (September 2005)
"The great majority of part-time faculty at UVM have devoted ourselves to the University community for many years. Most of us depend on our UVM wages to support ourselves. Instead, the administration's proposals treat us as if we are transient and temporary workers who teach at UVM to earn a little extra money."
(To download the fact sheet (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

Frequently Asked Questions about UA Contract Negotiations (September 2005)
"We want contracts that protect academic quality. We want contracts that put people — not just new buildings — in the vision at UVM."
(To download the FAQ (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

The Quality of a UVM Education (Fall 2005)
"United Academics has always been centrally concerned with academic quality. UA's full-time bargaining unit has submitted workload proposals that would preserve UVM's relatively small class sizes and ensure that students have access to first-rate tenure track faculty."
(To download these proposals (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

Where We Stand: UVM's Compensation Levels in Comparison (Spring 2005)
"Compensation levels ... shape the university's ability to hire and retain quality faculty, as many of us know from experience. Faculty compensation also shapes a university's reputation, both directly because it is an element in determining annual national rankings like U.S. News and World Report's, and indirectly because it is a factor in creating a general impression of the University in the minds of other professionals around the country. And the ways in which a university spends its money expresses its values; salary levels suggest to those both inside and outside UVM what the University thinks is important. Faculty compensation levels shape the University's future."
(To read the whole report (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

Statement Delivered to the UVM Board of Trustees by Nancy Welch, Associate Professor of English, on behalf of United Academics (February 11, 2005)
"Construction workers, secretaries, lecturers, custodians, librarians, professors: We're all part of UVM's environment. We're the people who will staff the new buildings and teach those 2,000 additional students. It's short-sighted to leave us out of UVM's vision for the next decade."
(To download the statement (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

United Academics' Position Statement on Salary, Workload, and the Quality of UVM's Research and Teaching (December 2004)
United Academics wholeheartedly agrees with President Fogel's stated ambition to make UVM "the nation's premier small public research university." We think that is a worthwhile and attainable goal. There are risks in the Administration's plan, however. It will fail 1) if salaries are not competitive enough to attract and retain top flight teachers and researchers, and 2) if numbers of qualified faculty are not increased commensurate with the planned expansion of the student body.
(To read the whole statement (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

Fact Sheet on Part-Time UVM Faculty Prepared by United Academics (December 2004)
(To download the fact sheet (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

Promoting Expensive Vices? When Positions at UVM Are Upgraded to Vice President, Salaries Shoot Up (Spring 2004)
When members of UVM's full-time faculty earn a promotion, their new position and new title is accompanied by a modest bump in pay: $3,000 for those stepping up from lecturer to senior lecturer, for instance, or $5,000 for a promotion from associate to full professor. When UVM's senior administrators change titles, they also get a bump in pay: $25,909 in raises between 2000 and 2004 for UVM's general counsel whose title is now Vice President and General Counsel; $25,000 in that same period for UVM's Director of Development whose new title is Assistant Vice President of Development and Alumni Relations.
(To download the report (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here. To download the tables from this report (in Microsoft Excel format) click here.)

Market and Compression Adjustments: Principles and Outcomes for 2004-2005
One part of salary increases in UA's contract is designed to bring faculty members lagging behind their national market closer to their peers in other institutions. For the upcoming academic year, this pool can be used not only for these market adjustments, but also for compression. The pool for market and compression adjustments is 1.3 percent of the salaries of bargaining unit members returning to UVM, or a total of about $403,000. According to the contract, we can use no more than about $154,000 toward compression. The contract stipulates that UA decides how to allocate these funds. Our Market Adjustment Committee met four times and made recommendations to the Executive Council, which in turn decided on a policy.
(To download the report (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

New Report from UA Regarding Use of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty at UVM (Spring 2002)
At the negotiating session on March 18, the United Academics bargaining team did a presentation for the Administration team on the University's use of non-tenure-track faculty.
(To download the report (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

From AAUP: Revised Figures for Contingent Faculty (December 2001)
In November, the U. S. Dept. of Education released a new set of figures for the percentage of faculty on contingent appointments for Fall 2001.

The absolute number of full-time tenured faculty actually declined between 1998 and 2001, from 297,360 to 278,825. In percentage terms, this group represented 30.5% in 1998 and 25.0% in 2001...
(To download the report (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

Competitiveness at UVM: Some Facts from United Academics (November 2001)
In its Oct. 23rd edition, The View asked Provost John Bramley "How competitive is UVM in terms of hiring top, young faculty?" Bramley responded:

... I would say that in general, and in the searches I've been involved in very directly, I think in the vast majority of those we got our first-choice candidate. I don't accept that we aren't very competitive. ... [U]nless we are able to recruit and retain faculty, then none of our other goals will be achievable.

United Academics certainly agrees that we need to be competitive to recruit and retain faculty, and that unless we do that we cannot achieve our other goals. But we thought Bramley's suggestion that UVM is already competitive should be held up against some facts.
(To download the report (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

Aspiring to Greatness -- How far does UVM have to go? (Fall 2001)
At a recent appearance before the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences, President Fogel gave an interesting PowerPoint talk in which he compared UVM on a number of criteria to what he called "peer" institutions and "aspirant" institutions (i.e., schools he thnks we are like, and those he thinks we should aspire to be like). We compared average salaries at UVM to Fogel's peer and aspirant schools. The results are below.
(To download the report (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here.)

How do UVM faculty salaries compare to national averages in each discipline? (Spring 2001)
Data compiled by United Academics comparing UVM faculty salaries to the 2000-01 Oklahoma State University that are members of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.
(To read the whole report click here.

An Update Analysis of the Finanacial Statements of The University of Vermont, 1995-2001
"Barring any major declines in enrollment or dramatic reductions in federal and state appropriations, the University will continue to generate substantial positive changes in fund balances each year providing the University with an opportunity to invest not only in improving its plant and equipment but also invest in improving its human resources."
(To download the analysis (an Adobe Acrobat PDF file) click here. To download the figures for this analysis click here.)

Last updated July 27, 2009